Various apparatuses and methods for detecting the shape of filled sausages are already known.
Thus, for example, it is generally known, sausages that are transported on a conveyor belt can be optically detected using cameras in the reflected light method or transmitted light method.
Disadvantages in the detection of parameters that relate to the shape of the sausage are, for example:                Elaborate, sensitive and expensive equipment,        A great deal of space required in the system. The shape of sausages, which are being transported between two conveyor belts for example, cannot be detected:        Interference from stray light,        Recognition rate is limited,        Elaborate and difficult programming and teaching the target size and threshold of tolerance (good/bad parts).        
DE 4307637 describes a method for detecting the length of a sausage, so that the sausages can be separated from one another. The start of the sausage and the end of the sausage, and therefore the length, can be detected by means of a light beam or light curtain. The disadvantage to this method is that no additional parameters such as curvature can be detected when the sausages are held between two conveyor belts.